Fluorescent light fixtures using tubular lamps are common and efficient. One or more ballasts are required in each fixture to operate the lamps. Access to these ballasts during assembly and for later servicing or replacement is required. For some fixtures with separate reflector wings emanating from a central housing, a long narrow housing cover is removable to gain access to the ballast from the underside.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,550 of Edwards, Jr. shows a ballast built into an end bracket which also supports the lamp sockets in a fluorescent fixture. Access is from the underside with shorter reflectors permitting such access. U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,015 of Smith shows a removable ballast accessible from the side of the housing above the reflector. U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,986 of Matteo et al. describes a hinged ballast tray which swings out of a rectangular luminaire after a glazed door is opened.
Some fluorescent light fixtures for one or more tubular lamps use carefully shaped contoured reflectors to achieve specific patterns of lighting as their objective. Kassay, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,070,303 shows several fixtures with careful attention to the amount of uplighting emanating from the edge of the reflector. In these fluorescent fixtures, the central section of the fixture has a continuous reflector.